


Time for Tea

by weaselett



Category: Doctor Who (2005), The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2016-10-07
Packaged: 2018-08-19 23:09:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8227952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weaselett/pseuds/weaselett
Summary: The Library is still full of surprises





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TanyaReed](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TanyaReed/gifts).



The restlessness was new. Well, it wasn't new, new, she'd just never known this kind of restlessness. The need to keep moving least she be stuck in place. She'd always been a wanderer, the Library, Portland, has almost hit her record for longest time spent in kinda one place. 

Or, it's exceeded it by centuries. Not that Eve really wanted to dwell on that. Ever. 

So instead, she walked. The Library was so big, her Librarians, all four, too distracted with their projects, so no one commented. No one stopped her, and it was just so nice. 

After so long standing still, it was so nice to be able to just walk. 

Eve smiled to herself, tilting her head back as she lent back against the railing of the sixth staircase she'd ascended. It didn't mean she was any further up, in the general sense of things, the Library being what it was, defying physics, but she didn't think about that. 

There were days when she wondered how long it would take to walk around the hole Library. She'd seen the plans, had listened to Jake and Jenkins discuss things, now with added commentary from Flynn, knew that the Library was immense. So many rooms, so much stuff, so hard to be sure that everything was back where it should be. 

Eve sighed, shaking her head. The point of her walk was meant to be to clear her head. To scratch the itch that was the urge to move and keep moving. To not think, for just a little while, about everything they'd been through.

She straightened, considering her choices and settling on the known. She would take a tour of some of the more interesting rooms that she knew. Ground herself some. 

Three rooms, then a long corridor of doors. Many of which locked for good reason, and one which...really should not have been open. 

Eve frowned, edged closer, her hand automatically drifting towards her hip. Some habits were just too damn hard to break. 

The sound of liquid being poured into something froze her in place for a moment, then she pushed the door open, allowing herself a good view into the dimly lit chamber beyond. And a certain caretaker who was not were she had expected him to be. 

Eve hesitated, eyeing the set up, stools and table, stained dust sheet imitating a tablecloth. It might just have been the strangest tea party she'd seen, shy of a few stranger kids she'd known. No lizards in sight at least.

She stepped into the room, not bothering to even try stealth. 

“Ah, Colonel Baird.” Jenkins greeted her with his version of a cheerful smile, hands not stilling in their work, “Perfectly on time.”

“I'm sorry, I didn't realise we had an appointment, or a guest.” Eve raised an eyebrow tilting her head towards Jenkins' companion. 

“No of course not.” Jenkins offered the other man a cookie, “But there was an expectation of your arrival.”

Sometimes it was easy to forget that she liked Jenkins, other times, not so much. “An expectation.”

Jenkins sighed, then turned in his seat, “The fact is Colonel, a pattern has developed in your wanderings.”

Eve's shoulders slumped, “And our guest?” Someone would have mentioned a visitor, at least she hoped so. Surprises might be a built in feature of the Library, but generally there were more flashy lights and dramatic happenings to signal these things. 

“Just passing through.” The man said, grinning up at her from his half slumped position, holding his cup up in an almost toast. “Catching up with old friends.”

Jenkins gave the man a long suffering glare that Eve knew only too well. Which was reassuring, kinda. 

“The good kind I hope.” 

The man raised his eyebrows, nudging Jenkins' leg with a foot. Jenkins' expression turned world weary. “Currently, though this version can still be quite irritating.” 

“Says the man who once made a perfectly serviceable teapot explode because he got distracted.” 

“Which is nothing in comparison to the things you all get up to.” Jenkins pointed his cup at the man in what might have been a threatening manner if it wasn't his best china. 

“Okay.” Eve frowned, considering how to phrase her next question that would actually earn her a satisfactory answer. “Old friend, not of the round table?”

The man grinned, impossibly managing to flash even more teeth, “I like this Guardian, much more interesting than some.” 

“You would.” Jenkins replied.

“I'm the Doctor.” The man, the Doctor, provided before Jenkins could say anything else. “And grumpy here seems to think you're the bee knees.”

Eve laughed, looking to Jenkins, who was shifting uncomfortably on his stool, looking very much the picture of an affronted cat. 

“That is an exaggeration. Though, I will not deny some fondness for you.” Jenkins fiddled with his tie, not making eye contact, “Certainly, you are better, and less disruptive, company than any Librarian, for the most part.”

“You lot have made his life a lot more interesting, and it's been a while.” The Doctor provided, seemingly taking on a translator role. 

Eve considered him for a moment, eyeing the black leather jacket and the circles under the man's eyes. “And he told you this?”

“Nope. I am however a master at reading between the lines, and we, me and him, go back a ways.” The Doctor paused, staring at her for a moment, “I don't suppose you would fancy a trip?”

Eve snorted, “I'm sorry, man I just met, who provides only 'the Doctor' as a name. Why exactly would I want to go somewhere with you?”

The Doctor shrugged, “I get the impression you're a bit of a wanderer, like me. It's been a little while since I last had company.”

“I'm afraid the Librarians are rather attached to Colonel Baird.” Jenkins' tone had an edge to it, drawing Eve's attention. Jenkins shrugged, “I realise you are fully capable of making your own choices, but he deserves fair warning.”

“The protective type them.” The Doctor commented, “Still, they would never know you'd been gone.”

Jenkins snorted.

Eve's eyes narrowed, “How exactly would they not know?”

The Doctor motioned at the blue box that Eve had been pointedly not looking at. 

“Time travel.” Eve shook her head, “Nope. I am done with time travel.”

“Travels in space too, not just time.” The Doctor provided, bouncing in his seat a little. She was so never letting him meet Jones. 

“But the suggestion that they would not know I was gone leans towards time travel.” Eve replied.

The Doctor eyed her for a moment longer, then sighed, deflating. “Oh well, worth a try.”

Jenkins rolled his eyes, “I;m sure you'll find some young woman for company soon enough.”

Eve frowned, not really sure how she felt about all the things that statement suggested. 

“Oi, not always young women. I've had the whole range of companions.” He finished the last of his drink and sighed contentedly. “Best tea in American.”

Eve shook her head, “Yay, another tea snob.”

The Doctor grinned, “Nothing like it, anywhere, and I know, I've looked.” 

“You have strange friends.” Eve informed Jenkins solemnly, “I am going to leave you two alone, and go somewhere else, not here.”

“Don't worry, he'll be off soon.” Jenkins said, lowering his own empty cup.

Eve hesitated in the doorway, “And that?” She motioned at the blue box. 

The Doctor grinned, “My transport. Jenkins, and Jutson, were kind enough to look after her for me. Though I wasn't expecting the complications with access.” He sounded rueful, but Eve really didn't want to ask.

“Okay, well, it was different.” Eve waved to the two men, leaving them in peace, while she still had her sanity. 

Time travel. Never again.


End file.
